Locomotive fire box



A. H. WILLETT. LOCOMOTIVE F'IREBOX.

APPLICATION P lLl-:n' MAR. 3. 1919.

1,402,198, i y Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

narran stares FTNT @r tra* faire tarifaria ALFRED H. WILLETT, OF "WEST NEVI YRK, IIEVJ JERSEY, ASSIG'NQR TO AWERICAQN RCE COMPANY, GF NEW YORK, 1J. Y., A CORPORATION OE DELA'WARE.

LCOIIOTIVE FIRE B'DX..

Application filed March 3,

To all whomz may conce/m- Be it known that I, ALFRED H. IVILLETT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Test New York, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locomotive Fire Boxes, of which the following is a specification. j,

This invention relates to locomotive fire boxes and particularly to fire boxes for oil burning locomotives, and it has for one of its primary objects the provision of improved means for regulating the supply of air admitted into the lire box, and the provision of a simple means for providing air admission duct.

I accomplish the foregoing, together with such other objects as may hereinafter appear, by means of a construction which I have illustratedin preferred form in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a portion of the fire box of an oil burning locomotive illustrating the application of my invention; Figure 2 is a cross section through the fire box.

My invention is particularly useful in connection with that type of oil burning locomotive which is provided with a pan located at the bottom of the fire box proper and into which fuel and air are admitted and mixed preliminary to combustion.

Referring now to Figure 1 it will be seen that I have therein illustrated such a fire box A. which is provided with the usual circulation tubes 6 connecting front and rear Water legs and an arch composed of refractory bricks 7 supported on the tubes, such fire box being provided with a refractory bottom wall 8 and a pan 9 lined with refractory material such as bricks 10. To the rear of the fire box is located a flash wall 11 also composed of refractory material. In front the pan is provided with an inlet opening 12 through which oil or a mixture of oil and air is admitted. The pan is also provided with a clean out Well 13.

In the side Walls of the pan I 4provide a plurality of suitably spaced apertures 14, and the bricks 10 constituting the refractory lining for Vthe pan 9 are channeled or grooved as indicated at 15 in Figure 2, such channels cooperating with the side walls of the pan to constitute passageways through which the air may be led from the exterior Yatented Jan. 3, 1922.

1919. Serial No. 280,197,

into the pan. For this purpose each chan Vnel 15 of the upper course of bricks lining the pan 9, continued through such bricks to provide openings 16. The admission of air through the apertures la is controlled by two plates 1'? somewhat in the'nature of slide valves, such plates being provided with apertures 17 adapted to be shifted into and out of registry with the apertures 14. The slideyalves are preferably controlled by a single operating means such as the lever 18;

It will beseen that by this arrangement I am enabled to obtain any degree of opening necessary for admitting air in volumes suitable for the particular operating conditions, and that the distribution of air will be substantially equaled throughout the length of the pan, thus insuring uniform conditions in the interior thereof. I am aware that it is old in the art to admit air at various points into the pan, but in so far as I have knowledge, I am the first to provide controlling means of the character specified adapted to obtain uniform regulation.

With reference to the lining members, it is to be observed that I have provided a very simple and convenient means for forming air passages and similar ducts. In this connection I am aware that it is old to provide refractory members such as tubular parts, and it is also old to provide bricks with an aperture therethrough, but these constructions are unsatisfactory as a practical mati ter owing to their susceptibility to cracking. By the provision of a groove in one face of the brick, such groove opening into another face, it will be readily seen that when the brick is associated with an adjacent strucv ture, a duct is formed. This type of brick is practical to manufacture and has a much longer life.

I claim:

1. A brick having along one face thereof a groove and an aperture communicating with said groove at an end thereof and opening into the opposite face of the brick whereby the brick when associated with an adjacent member constitutes a duct, said duct terminating short of an edge of the brick.

2. A refractory member for furnaces and the like having in one face thereof a groove directly opening into another face, whereby said member when associated with an adj acent member constitutes a duct, said duct terminating short of an edge of the brick.

A locomotive lire boxhaving a pan having an aperture therethrough at the lower part thereof, a refractory lining for the pan, said lining having an aperture in the upper part thereof and a groove cooperating with a side Wall ot the pan to constitute a duct, said `groove ldirectly communicating at the lower end with the aperture in the pan and at the upper end with the aperture in the lining, so that the incoming air is heated in its passage.

t. A locomotive lire box having a refractory lined pan and means for admitting air into the pan, said means consisting oi' an opening located in the lower part of the pan, an opening in the upper part of a side Wall of the lining and a duct directly connecting said openings, said duct being formed by a groove in the outer face of the lining cooperating with the pan, so that the incoming air is heated in its passage. Y

5. In a fire box the combination of means ior admitting supplemental air in a preheated condition comprising an opening in the box, a two-part refractory lining for the box, a groove-in one of the parts coin- Inunicating With the opening in the -box and cooperating With the Wall of the boxrto forni a duct extending in a direction trans verse of the opening in the box, a similar groove in the other part also cooperating lwith the Wall ot the box .and adapted to form a continuation of the groove whereby au elongated passage is provided, and an opening` in said second part which establishes communication through said part between the duct and the tire box.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

ALFRED H. WILLETT. 

